


Beyond Even Dimensions

by Umbri



Category: Original Work, Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Chapter specific warnings may apply, Gen, More additional tags to be added, Other Character Tags to be Added - Freeform, So here we are, This was gonna be original but my brain said include VRAINS kids, archive warnings subject to change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:41:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,571
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23181892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Umbri/pseuds/Umbri
Summary: A strange young woman appears in a cavern, with no memories save for a vague recollection and the unique ability to summon dragons. Surviving in this environment, full of monsters that could kill her with a mere flick of the wrist, seems out of the question, even as she hides away...But she is not the only strange one. A group of lost souls found their way to this world, which almost seems to have shaped itself in preparation for these travelers...
Kudos: 1





	Beyond Even Dimensions

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like the summary is a bit TOO cliche but it’s past midnight and I worked way too hard to come up with just that much so you know what? That’s good enough for tonight.

_Towering over her stands an ancient gate, made of a bright blue metal that contrasted the gray cavern walls around her. Along the cavern walls were etchings of what looked to be a prophecy; a meteor crashes into a planet, leaving a garden of flowers in its wake. Standing beside these flowers is a man, shooting fire from his fingertips at monsters. The same man stands proudly in front of a castle with a crown on his head. The gate itself had etchings of a story that seemed to take place between the second panel of the flowers—on the left of the gate—and the third panel of the man and monsters—carved on the right of the gate. Along the left side, what appears to be a deer sniffs at the flowers and falls dead. In its place then stands a larger, stronger-looking deer, unharmed by the presence of the flower. On the right side, mankind begins to study these flowers, uprooting them in the name of science before a frustrated-looking man throws something on the ground that bursts into flame._

_Beside the gate stood a man and a woman, fondly yet sadly gazing at her. She doesn’t hear everything they say, but she catches a few words—chosen, hardships, companions, memories, a new world—and finally, a full sentence as the gate opens, a blinding light making it near impossible to see the woman speaking;_

_“Guard the stone with your life, for it shall guard yours.”_

  
  


She awakens feeling confused and lost. Her strange dream was her only memory, and despite the cavern around her looking similar to the one she was just in, she knows she’s far from where that other cave was—but doesn’t that assume that dream was a lost memory and not simply a dream? Then why did it feel so right?

She moves her hand to sit up only for it to land on a jagged stone that was definitely not part of the cave floor; the stone was quite large, actually, too big for her hand but smaller than her head, and shone with a mystifying green, blue, red, and yellow iridescence, the colors blurring into pinks and purples and teals—as though the whole rainbow existed on this stone. _Guard the stone_ , the woman had told her. This must be the very same stone. 

She ended up so entranced by its colors that she doesn’t notice the beast until its massive frame casts a shadow on her, and by the time she looks up, it was already too late. She has just enough time to see the beast swing down its massive paw onto her face, excruciating pain enveloping the entire right side of her face as her own scream echoes throughout the cavern. She crawls backward desperately, but she was already right next to a wall; the beast raises its paw again, and the pure terror that overwhelms her causes her to faint before she can even notice the beast would not be swinging down again. 

When she next wakes, she finds herself in a much more enclosed space, akin more to a thin hallway than a cave. It’s far too small for the beast from before to even consider reaching into, though she has a good amount of room to crawl around a bit. While making a quick scan of her little room, her eyes catch movement, and she shrieks, making for the other side of the alcove before a voice rings through the space;

“Wait!”

Her terror almost vanishes, instead curious about her mysterious companion. She looks down at the floor where she saw its movement… she has to squint in the darkness to try to make out any kind of form, but they breathe a bit of fire and her eyes widen in realization. 

In the flash of light, she caught sight of a small creature with near-black scales, two proud horns on either side of its head and a long tail, almost as long as the rest of its body, wrapped around itself. It sits in a rather civilized manner, attempting to hide its sharp talons and looks back at her with equally curious amber eyes, stretching its wings a little. 

A dragon. She’s in a small, secluded room with a _dragon_. 

“Don’t be afraid,” It says, its eyes almost glowing in the darkness. Though the image crosses her mind as frightening, the dragon exudes a calm aura, and she relaxes despite thinking it could eat her at any moment. “I was getting worried about you. You wouldn’t wake up for days.”

“ _Days?_ ” She echoes subconsciously, covering her mouth in surprise of her own voice. It was… soft, despite the incredulous tone, and seemed comforting somehow. 

The dragon nods—her eyes have adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see its figure without aid. “Though I suppose it shouldn’t have come as a surprise; you did experience quite the fright, and my forceful summon must have drained your stamina…” It blinks away the forlorn look in its eyes. “Ah, but I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Artemis, the Great Wyrm and your guardian. Though I’m this small now,” Artemis stands and approaches her, climbing up to curl himself around her neck. “As your body grows used to the strain of maintaining my summon, I can gradually increase my size and power. I promise,” he nuzzles her neck, drawing a ticklish giggle from her. “You shall never be wanting for company or protection.”

They spend a few minutes just sitting there as she gently scratches the bridge of Artemis’s nose, enjoying the satisfactory purrs he makes. They might have continued for much longer had her stomach not very loudly made itself known. Artemis laughs it off—or at least, she assumes the low, fits-and-starts growl noise he makes is akin enough to a laugh to pass as one—and hops from her shoulders to a corner, where he pushes some meat over to her with his nose, a nice, appetizing brown color. She doesn’t dare to ask where or how Artemis got it, but she’s too hungry to think on it too much, taking the sizable chunk of meat—only slightly smaller than Artemis himself—and tearing off a bite with her teeth. There’s not much flavor, and her jaw gets sore rather quickly, but she eats nonetheless. About halfway through her meal, Artemis breaks the silence that had filled the room. 

“I don’t know very much about you, Summoner. Would you mind telling me about yourself?”

At this, she stops mid-bite before considering as she finishes that bite. Herself? She remembers vague details from that dream, and even less from the attack that took her eye, and after that was… now. She has no other memories—not even of her name. 

“...I don’t remember anything.” She failed not to sound as distressed as she feels, and seeing the concern on her dragon companion’s face only made it worse. Who _was_ she? She couldn’t even see her own body well enough to discern what she was wearing, though she could see her skin poking out in places. What does she do now…?

“Then I assume you don’t currently have a name,” Artemis says, seating himself next to her as she nods, taking a much smaller bite of what little remains of her meat. “What shall I call you then?”

She turns the other way as she tries to consider the question—keyword _tries._ She gets distracted immediately by the sight of the stone that had been by her side when she first found herself in this cave—or at least, she assumes she’s in the same cave. She shoves the last little bite of meat into her mouth to crawl over to it, it’s myriad of colors glimmering softly even in such low light. 

“That,” Artemis calls, trotting over to her if the sound of talons against stone is any indication. “Is the Dragonstone. It’s a necessary medium for a Summoner such as yourself to summon dragons; and not just myself. This also means, should you lose it, I will be unable to come to your side.”

If he says anything else, she doesn’t hear it, instead staring in fascination at the stone. “ _Ryuseki…_ ” She mutters, before something in her head clicks. 

“Seki.” Artemis glances up to her, tilting his head slightly. “Call me Seki.”

The next day—or at least, after she wakes from her sleep—Seki feels her way around the cave, having ill else to do while Artemis was out hunting. (He assured her, many times, that he would be fine, and even if he did encounter danger, he could desummon and resummon himself as he pleased, appearing back at her side.) She can still hardly see, but she grows familiar with the texture of the walls and size of the alcove until she feels like she can almost sense it, _feeling_ the walls around her and even how wide the area outside is. As she acquires this strange skill, she feels an inconsistency in the wall somewhere to her right—upon inspection, her hands run over a different texture that wobbles a little as she touches it, as though loose. She pulls it out of the wall with a bit of effort and ends up with a stone the size of her hand in her grasp, turning it over and inspecting it as best she can in what little light she has. 

The rock shaped like an egg, smooth yet coarse, as though completely covered in little tiny spikes over an otherwise perfect surface, and chips away a little at the wall when she experimentally rubs them together. Its shape doesn’t budge regardless of the amount of force she puts on it, and breaking it seems almost impossible—yes, even with her teeth. She considered testing to see if the Dragonstone could break it, but didn’t in fear the Dragonstone would break instead. During these tests though, she finds she kinda likes the rock’s texture, and lets her mind drift off while running her hand over it. She doesn’t really think of anything, just absentmindedly stroking the stone, until she feels _something_ flow inside her and she suddenly smears the structure of the stone with one of her strokes. It spooks her out of her trance, and now the oval shape is ruined on one side, where instead of rounding out, it flattens and extends unnaturally beyond where its bottom was. She expected the thin, altered part to be much easier to break, but she has just as much trouble as she did before. 

That feeling—some power inside her bent the shape of the stone; surely she could harness it? Forcing herself to drift into that spot again proved fruitless though, and after quite some time attempting, she stops to ponder what would work when Artemis flies through the crack to their alcove, meat in his mouth. He lands with a soft clicking of his talons, drops the meat in a corner and turns to her, tilting his head. “Is there something on your mind, Seki?” He asks. She’s a little surprised he could tell so easily, but she doesn’t exactly have any practice or reason to mask her emotions or thoughts. 

She explains what happened and how she felt as best she can, though she thinks Artemis already knew what it was before she could finish. As she expects, Artemis wastes no time giving his own explanation; “That stone is Adamantium. It’s one of only three special metals that responds to Mana, an internal power that defines life. What you described was the usage of Mana; you lost focus and therefore control over it, causing some to flow through your fingers into the stone, molding it like clay. It can be used to shape almost anything, from tools to weapons and armor.”

Seki hums, glancing back at her stone; the Adamantium. Shape it into anything she wants…? Images of the beast that took her eye flash through her mind—a large, domineering figure of white fur, a creature on all fours with pointed eyes, it’s face covered in armor and a large mouth with countless razor sharp teeth—filling her with fear and an odd sense of determination. She can’t sit here _forever_ ; one day, she has to step out of this cave and face her fears or die trying. If she can make a weapon out of this Adamantium… can she fight back? Can she _win_? 

_Only one way to find out_ , she thinks, a shiver running down her spine both in fear and anticipation. 

She expected learning how to manipulate Mana would be a trial and error kind of experience, but not to _this_ degree; she ends up spending two days (in terms of how many times she fell asleep) with mostly error, until finally, on the third day, she feels confident in her ability to control her Mana—though less so on her ability to shape the Adamantium properly. It turns out she can’t actually _remove_ any of the material; she has to make a viable knife with the entire chunk of Adamantium, nothing more, nothing less. Not to mention how many times she’s made mistakes, like making the blade or handle too thick or too thin, making dents in the material by accident, not leaving enough material for the blade or handle… by the time she gets it finished, she’s learned quite a bit from Artemis about how the world around her works. 

First was a deeper lesson on Mana. As Artemis said during his briefer explanation, life is defined by the ability to absorb, use, and expel Mana. This definition has led to some confusion, especially with the metals like Adamantium, which contain Mana but don’t seem to expel it or absorb any more. The origin of Mana is also a disputed subject; history leads some to believe that Mana was a foreign introduction to the planet that incorporated itself into whatever could survive its intrusion, while others believe the world had always been this way—though neither party, not even dragons such as Artemis, with their almost-infinitely longer lifespans, can truly explain how Mana came to be. Regardless of its origin, it’s a well-known fact that some humans can manipulate it to perform feats known as Magic, which comes in elements along with a more generalized form. Depending on its element, Magic can be used in a plethora of ways, including lighting fires, freezing water, making medicine, healing wounds and, like Seki, summoning things. Summoning apparently falls under the more generalized Magic category, making it an outlier in that it can’t be used by just anyone capable of Magic; it’s closer to the elemental categories in that it needs an affinity, but apparently Summoners are deemed useless by humans for their lack of personal abilities, since almost everything combat or utility related is in the skills of the summon itself. 

As for where Seki is, Labyrinths are mazes, typically underground, that house monsters and protect treasures that Adventurers—human explorers, typically swordsmen or mages, that travel the world for various reasons, such as treasure, fame, or just fun—hunt for. They typically have some large-scale Magic encompassing them, such as illusory magic making it appear as though it’s outside, protective magic to prevent the walls from being damaged, or even contingency magic that activates once the big treasure is taken that causes the whole thing to cave in. They’re supposedly ancient shelters or pathways, meant to hide in during emergencies, to hide the path to a prosperous or secret location, or just a hermit magician’s home. This makes them excellent deposits of precious metals, hence the need for Adventurers to guard miners or to gather them themselves. 

There are apparently two “types” of humans; ones that are part animal and ones that aren’t. The Demi-humans, as they’re known, originated from Mana’s strange effect of allowing a human and an animal to have children, with the rule that a human has to carry the child. There is apparently a Demi-human “race” for just about every animal humankind has discovered, with the exception of dragons and creatures known as monsters, animals that have absorbed more Mana than they could handle and lost all intelligence. Demi-humans are also more likely to be capable of Magic; Artemis didn’t know for certain why, but apparently humans theorize it’s either because of their mixed heritage or because their bodies require a stronger control of Mana to survive. 

As for human settlements, every known city is a kingdom, ruled by a royal family with a system of the wealthy versus the poor; Nobles and Proletarians, respectively. There’s one very successful city that doesn’t have such a system, though; the Faewyn Kingdom, which happens to be closest to this Labyrinth, named after the kingdom itself. The Fujiki Royal Family that rules the kingdom are known even to dragons as very benevolent rulers, issuing punishment only where necessary and using portions of their wealth to ensure every citizen within its walls can support themselves and their family. Since the family took over three generations ago, there has never been a riot or revolution, not a soul even considering the thought of overthrowing the Fujikis. It’s known as the Capital of Asier, the continent it’s on, even though the actual Capital is elsewhere. 

There are a total of 3 discovered continents, the first being Asier itself—it’s undoubtedly the largest of the three, making up a whopping 80% of the landmass on the Western Hemisphere. Its shape is that of a crescent, with a trail of islands dotting the line between the two points. The water separating the mainland from the islands was named the Asier Sea. 

The next largest is Tzerrenia, making up 15% of the Western landmass. Its oddly shaped like an outstretched wing, positioned just southwest of Asier. Stranger still, if you look at it with the third continent, it looks almost like a beast in flight. 

The third continent in question is less of a continent and more of a nation of islands that’s counted as a continent for simplicity’s sake. Nebia Andten makes up the remaining 5% of the Western Hemisphere’s landmass, with plenty of oddities. The most notable is the odd ruling system, in that the “King” doesn’t actually have absolute authority; Nebia Andten has a council of sorts meant to respond to the people, delivering their wishes to the King or enacting them themselves. Due to this, there isn’t actually a Royal Family; should the people tell the council they wish for a different King, the current one is overthrown by the leader of the council. What happens to the overthrown King is a mystery, although his children and wife are sent to Noble homes with the previous King’s personal assets. 

The East side of the world is uncharted territory to humans, though there are some dragons that live there. It’s apparently very mountainous in places, and others flat as can be. Even the weather, temperature and vegetation varies rather drastically; a pair of deserts sandwiching a lush forest with a frozen center, among other strange formations. Dragons call it _Extremedy_ for this reason, among a few others Artemis neglected to mention.

Seki also learned a bit about how summoning works when she discovered Artemis was growing. Rather than a natural growth, Artemis had adjusted his size to accommodate her lack of stamina; that is, the strain on her body of summoning something so large would have been too much, so he instead makes himself slightly bigger as her body becomes accustomed to the drain. 

And speaking of her body, she finally grew accustomed enough to the dark to see what she was wearing. Naturally, her clothes were filthy, and torn almost beyond belief—partly because she’d used a bit of her top to decorate the handle of her blade and increase the grip, but the point stands. As far as she could tell, it was all gray, which could have been because the filth covered any color that was there previously or there just wasn’t any to begin with. Her stomach was completely exposed, the loose fabric wrapped around her chest didn’t have sleeves, and her shorts were a little too short to do much good. Her hair was long, hanging down to the middle of her back, dirty white and pink tangled together. She was an absolute mess; she’d have to fix that one day. But for now, her knife was nearly complete—just needed some sharpening—and an idea popped in her head. She knows rather intimately how Adamantium responds to different signals of Mana; how would the Dragonstone react? Could she make a bit of jewelry out of it and wear it? Just the thought of he beautiful iridescent stone around her neck or wrist was enough to get her reaching for it. 

Even Artemis barely had time to react. 

The moment she _touched_ the stone with even a hint of Mana, an excruciating pain shot through her whole body. Even as she let go of it, her very soul felt as though it was on fire; she doesn’t remember how loud she screamed, if she did at all. She remembered feeling as though her Mana were being forcefully drained and seeing Artemis rush to her side before she lost consciousness. 


End file.
